{"id":1874,"date":"2011-03-05T16:33:22","date_gmt":"2011-03-05T23:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=1874"},"modified":"2013-01-31T20:25:16","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T03:25:16","slug":"plenty-of-peruvian-peppers-and-basic-seed-starting-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/plenty-of-peruvian-peppers-and-basic-seed-starting-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenty of Peruvian Peppers and Basic Seed Starting Techniques"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pepper plants take relatively long to mature and fruit; the hotter varieties usually take the longest to obtain those pretty oranges and reds, or purple, as in the case of the Peruvian Purple Chile <\/a>\"\".\u00a0 So, as usual, I am starting to plant peppers from seed now.\u00a0 I will plant pepper varieties up until the end of March, if need be.\u00a0 Some of my seeds haven’t arrived yet or need to be purchased still.<\/p>\n

Seed starting basics are something I have learned about from many resources, such as\u00a0The New Seed Starter’s Handbook<\/a>\"\", and lots of personal experience over the years.\u00a0 The first step for everything is pre-moistened soil<\/strong> (assuming you already have your seeds!).\u00a0 Having made my own soil mixes in the past, I have decided that there are enough benefits to buying seed starting quality potting soil from a reputable garden nursery.\u00a0 I tried the cheaper soil from places like Walmart, but it just doesn’t work as well, not having as good of texture and tending to dry out more quickly and harder.\u00a0 I have never washed and sterilized containers, as is recommended by many people.<\/em>\u00a0 If a seed isn’t up to handling what’s hanging out in dirt, I figure it has problems I don’t want to propagate.<\/p>\n

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I add enough water to the potting soil to make it the consistency of thick oatmeal.<\/strong>\u00a0 Then I put it in trays or pots and tamp it down some.\u00a0 I go\u00a0 back and forth about using trays or pots to initially plant in.\u00a0 Trays allow for better space usage in the greenhouse, but require a lot more time transplanting.\u00a0 Plus, any transplanting sets back the timetable for the plants maturity some.\u00a0 Since I carry my pots outside to the patio on a daily basis once the sun is warming things enough, space is not the primary issue for me.\u00a0 Time is.\u00a0 So this year, it is pots.<\/p>\n

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Next, I place the seeds on top of the soil, followed by a layer of soil<\/strong>.\u00a0 This layer should be about twice the diameter of the seed (unless the seed specifically says it needs light to germinate, something found a lot with flower seeds<\/em>).\u00a0 After a light finger pressing of that additional soil, I water them in just a bit using the mist setting on my spray nozzle.\u00a0 Labeling can be done very economically using Jumbo Craft Sticks from Walmart and a Sharpie marker.<\/strong>\u00a0 I include the date the seeds were planted on this marker.\u00a0 This comes in very handy if one is wondering about progress.\u00a0 These sticks can then be used in the garden when I transplant out there.\u00a0 They last one season, but by the following spring are looking dilapidated.\u00a0 Meanwhile, they serve well to hold up the plastic that will create the hothouse effect for efficient germination.<\/p>\n

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Covering the newly planted seeds with plastic of some sort keeps them nicely moist, like a gentle spring rain.<\/strong>\u00a0 Any sort of plastic will do, but I prefer something I can see through.<\/em>\u00a0 Trash bags are easier to get on and keep on than kitchen plastic wraps.\u00a0 They are also easier to keep up off of the new sprouts.\u00a0 I have used the large garbage can sized bags before, but last year found myself with an excess of clear 10 gallon household waste basket liners and discovered I like using them more.\u00a0 That is partly because slipping one over each end of the tray is more practical than inserting the tray into a large bag, plus it is less hassle to pull them back in the middle to check for sprouts than to having to work with the the folds of the 33 gallon size.<\/p>\n

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There are a variety of warm places in the house to place seeds until they sprout, which does NOT include a windowsill.<\/em>\u00a0 At this point, a windowsill would be counterproductive for most seeds, since the seeds usually need to be warmed and at this time of year the window sills are some of the coolest places in the house.\u00a0 The top of the refrigerator, the top of the dryer, and the top of the water heater are all places I have used in the past.\u00a0<\/strong> I also have a fairly unique option of cupboards in front of radiant heat water pipes.\u00a0 My plants love it in there.\u00a0 I tell you to help you brainstorm for possible locations in your home.\u00a0 There are always heating mats and wires that can be purchased especially for the germination process.<\/p>\n

All of the work of planting the seeds will be wasted if you don’t check your pots for germination VERY regularly.\u00a0<\/strong> I recommend twice a day from the very start, even though I’ve never had anything sprout sooner than 3 days later.\u00a0 The problem is that if you don’t get into the important habit of checking them, you run the risk of not finding the new sprouts until they have gotten leggy.\u00a0 It is almost impossible to save leggy seedlings.<\/em>\u00a0 Their long stems, originally growing to find the light, are then not strong enough to support the plant.\u00a0 They inevitably bend, break, and the plants die.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0 leave most seeds covered under the bags until they sprout, unless that fuzzy mold starts growing.<\/strong>\u00a0 However, I find that pepper seeds like to get a little more dried out after about 3 days in the makeshift hothouses.\u00a0<\/em> I don’t mean let them completely dry out, but they definitely don’t like to be as moist as other seeds.\u00a0 The pepper plants also take a little longer, on average, than other seeds to sprout.\u00a0 Be patient.\u00a0 Check for sprouts and proper moisture levels at least daily.<\/p>\n

Once they sprout, they need strong, direct light.\u00a0<\/strong> Even then, a window sill isn’t a good place for them in most cases.\u00a0 The shelves with grow lights<\/a> are well worth the effort to set up.\u00a0 It can be done fairly inexpensively with parts or you can buy a kit.\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, you end up with healthy plants.\u00a0 Then, remember to harden them off gradually when its time to acclimate them to outdoor living.\u00a0 Every step is important to the plants’ development.<\/p>\n

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Pepper plants take relatively long to mature and fruit; the hotter varieties usually take the longest to obtain those pretty oranges and reds, or purple, as in the case of the Peruvian Purple Chile .\u00a0 So, as usual, I am starting to plant peppers from seed now.\u00a0 I will plant pepper varieties up until the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}